The Center’s Vision
       To be an international reference in the field of measurement 
       and evaluation.
       The Center’s Mission
       To  provide  comprehensive  and  integrated  solutions  that       
       scientifically measure and evaluate knowledge, skills and     
       aptitude with the purpose of achieving fairness, maintaining 
       quality and satisfying development needs.
                                                                  GAT
        9200 33 555                                              General Aptitude Test
                                                                   (English Version)
        +966 11 490 7000 
        faq@qiyas.org
        P.O Box 68566 Riyadh 11537                                                     راضحإ
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                                                                           لاا لوخدل سياسأ طرش ةيصخشل
                                                                           را�بتخ
                  Background                                                                                                   Administering the GAT English Version
              This brochure aims at providing you with brief information about the National Center for                     Institutions that wish to use the GAT English Version should consult the Center well in ad-
              Assessment (NCA). It also provides you with information on one of the tests that the Cen-                    vance to arrange timings and locations. Applicants can request this information from the 
              ter has prepared and conducted, namely, the General Aptitude Test (GAT).                                     institution he or she is applying to or from the National Center itself.
              The Center was established as an independent entity based on a Royal Decree issued on                            How GAT is developed
              18/9/2000. Its mission is to specialize in issues of educational measurement, specially those                The Center follows established scientific methods in preparing its tests and follows stan-
              relating to university admission.                                                                            dards that insure quality and accuracy. The formation process of the test can be summa-
              The General Aptitude Test (GAT) was developed to satisfy the need for a standardized measurement             rized as follows:
              of scholastic aptitude for use by institutions of higher learning. The original GAT Arabic Version has         1. Scientific Preparation: The Center uses only qualified professionals in Verbal, Math, and 
              been in use for several years as one of the major tools in selecting those who will be admitted to                IQ item writing as well as professionals in Psychometric Testing. It holds several regularly 
              universities and colleges throughout the Kingdom as well as in some other Arab countries. With                    scheduled four-day workshops in test objectives and item writing, depending on need.
              the current growth in the field of education and continuing development of numerous private                    2. Item Writing: The Center asks the workshop participants to write questions for the vari-
              institutions of higher learning, there is a need for the same test to be presented in English for those           ous test components according to the assigned requirements and objectives of the test.
              applicants who are not native Arab speakers. The GAT English Version is not merely a translation of            3. Registration: When items are sent to the Center, each item is assigned a special code 
              the GAT Arabic Version, but an original test created by the Center for English speakers. It guaran-               number that remains with it in the item bank, whether or not the item is actually used. 
              tees an assessment on a scale equitable to those taking the GAT Arabic Version.                                   Likewise, each item writer is also given a code number in order to insure anonymity 
              What is GAT?                                                                                                      and avoid any kind of personal bias.
              The GAT English Version, like the GAT Arabic Version, uses language and mathematics to                         4. Reviewing: With anonymity of the item writer assured, each item is reviewed by a com-
              measure the following abilities:                                                                                  mittee which consists of three members: (1) a field specialist, (2) a specialist in measure-
                   1.  Reading comprehension                                                                                    ment and (3) a neutral person who may be an advocate for the test-taker or the society at 
                   2.  Logical relations                                                                                        large. The Reviewing Committee scrutinizes each item for: content, domain, bias towards 
                   3.  Problem-solving behavior                                                                                 sex or region, difficulty, creativity, suitability of each stem and/or choices. When the item 
                   4.  Inferential abilities                                                                                    is selected for use in a test, it is reviewed for a second time to insure accuracy and adher-
                   5.  Inductional abilities                                                                                    ence to the test requirements.
                                                                                                                             5. Trial Items: Several items are incorporated within a test as try-out items. Test-takers 
              The test consists of six sections. All questions are multiple choice, with four possible                          are not aware of which items are in this category. Only the real items in the test are 
              answers marked as A, B, C, and D. The test-takers select the best answer and mark their                           scored for the test-takers.
              choice on the answer sheet. The answer sheets are then machine scored.                                         6. Analysis: All try-out items are statistically analyzed and reviewed. Items that show 
              Some of the questions in the GAT are non-scorable items and are not counted toward the                            good statistical measurements are then stored in the item bank for future tests. The 
              score of the test-taker. Rather, they help maintain statistical reliability in composing GAT                      bad try-outs are revised and tested again or discarded if not correctable.
              examinations in the future.
              The test-takers’ scores are calculated only on the 120 questions of the actual GAT test;                         Test Formation
              68 of these questions are verbal and 52 are quantitative. To enhance security there are 5                    In order to insure security, the actual test in its final shape, including the trial items, is used 
              forms of each test. The overall duration of the test is 3 hours.                                             to generate alternate forms. All items that form the test are arranged randomly. Care is 
                                                                                                                           taken that each section has different ideas and difficulty levels. The objective is to obtain 
                  Goals                                                                                                    equally balanced forms with ascending difficulty in each section, thus insuring that the 
                                                                                                                           score obtained reflects the real level of the test-takers. Finally, tests are printed in booklets 
              Educational measurement weighs a characteristic that the learner possesses utilizing nu-                     that contain general instructions as well as specific instructions for each section. Example 
              merical values. It assesses the applicants’ academic aptitude through tests and/or inven-                    questions and how to answer them are on the back cover page of the test booklet.
              tories. A test used as an admission tool addresses the following questions: To what extent 
              does a student possess certain skills? Does the student’s ability qualify him/her for ad-                        Statistical Criteria
              mission to a particular study program? To which program should a student be admitted?                        Items are evaluated statistically with classical and Item Response Theory (IRT) models. 
              Who should take the test?                                                                                    Items are included if their classical difficulty is reasonable (average difficulty for the total 
              The GAT is required for admission to all institutions of higher learning. Students who are                   test is around 0.5) and their discrimination around 0.3. They also have to meet the criteria 
              applying for admission at any university or college should take the test as part of the ad-                  of the IRT three-parameter model:
              mission criteria, either the Arabic Version or the English Version.                                            •  good discrimination (above 0.50),
                                                                                                                             •  coverage of the ability spectrum,
                                                                                                                             •  low guessing parameter value.